International

“We have to generate more fissures in commands that support Ortega,” says Nicaraguan opponent

Former Nicaraguan presidential candidate Juan Sebastián Chamorro said in an interview with EFE that Daniel Ortega’s regime is increasingly similar to that of North Korea, for its cruelty and histrionism, and asked the opposition not to give up in its attempt to “generate more fissures” in the commands that hold the Sandinista leader.

Chamorro, 53, was one of the 222 political prisoners who in February 2023 were banished to the United States and stripped of their nationality by “traitors” and “vendepatrias”.

Considered one of the main opponents of the regime and a member of one of the best-known families in Nicaragua – his aunt Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was president between 1990 and 1997 -, the economist is in Paraguay to denounce within the framework of the 54th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) that Nicaragua “has become a huge prison.”

“We were in prison for 611 days as political prisoners, but there are more than 6 million Nicaraguans who currently live in prison: all civil and political freedoms are violated,” he said.

Although Nicaragua formally left the OAS last November on the initiative of Ortega himself, the organization’s plenary will analyze until this Friday the crisis unleashed in the country after the massive protests of April 2018, which left at least 355 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

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“Even the Nicaraguan Academy of Language, the Boy Scouts and the Red Cross have been eliminated. They have even canceled NGOs that gave shelter to stray dogs and cats! That is the level of repression we are experiencing,” Chamorro added.

Ortega, who returned to power in 2007 and since 2017 has governed with his wife, Rosario Murillo, has established a “family dynasty,” which reminds Chamorro of both the absolutist monarchies of centuries ago and the current regime that governs from Pyongyang: “We are Latin American North Korea.”

“We are not talking about a Cuban-style dictatorship, where the Communist Party chooses within its undemocratic mechanisms, where there is a certain institutionality. Ortega has destroyed his own party, the Sandinist National Liberation Front,” he explained.

This dynastic logic is, in his opinion, one of the great “weaknesses” of the regime, since it generates claims among its acolytes and truncates the aspirations of the highest commanders close to Ortega, but at the same time it is an opportunity for the opposition.

“We have to try to generate more fissures like the one we saw with his own brother,” he said in reference to Humberto Ortega Saavedra, former head of the Nicaraguan Army and one of the historical leaders of the Sandinista revolution.

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In an interview with the Infobae media last May, the retired general launched unusual criticisms against the Government headed by his brother and sister-in-law and questioned the plans attributed to the presidential couple to designate their son, Laureano Ortega Murillo, as a successor.

Hours after the publication, National Police officers broke into Ortega Saavedra’s home and he was in total isolation.

“We must continue to send messages to the cadres and tell them that if they have not committed a crime, if they are not complicit in the commission of crimes against humanity or corruption, they have a space in the democratic Nicaragua of the future,” Chamorro added.

Despite certain voices that advocate an armed popular rebellion to remove Ortega from power, the former presidential candidate declared that the only way out is to continue diplomatically and economically close to the regime, although the peaceful struggle “is slower than the navy.”

“The statistics show that democratic and peaceful transitions are more effective,” he concluded.

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International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.